Today is Tea Day

Dil Mange More To Piyo Chai (If Heart Longs for more, Take only Tea)

New Delhi, December 15: There is a limerick- Yek cup tea, tumne di, hamne pi- he he he (You offered me a cup of me, I drank it and laughed).

After a tete a tete on Tea ( chai pai charcha) with health experts @ www.meditoall.com today on 10th International Tea Day, it emerged that  tea taken without mixing milk and sugar with it is an elixir of sorts. They opined it is a very healthy beverage and you can really go laughing all the way to good health. It is milk and sugar that make tea a risky beverage. Though ‘Dil Mange More’ is a tagline slogan brewed for colas, a very unhealthy recipe, it is an apt slogan for healthy tea.

In addition to explaining healthy components in tea, health experts have cited China to buttress their arguments in favor of tea. They say if India has to square up with Chinese economy, it should also emulate its tea habits.

Politically speaking, tea has attained much fame as a tea vendor (Narendra Modi) has become the Prime Minister of India. It was through chai pai charch (discussion over a cup of tea) that Modi made his way to people’s heart but according to health experts tea is yet to be popularized as a health brand in the country. They say time is opportune to do it.

It was not for nothing that ‘America flavor’ smitten Montek Singh Ahluwalia, erstwhile Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission and a famed economist, proposed tea to be made a national beverage as his parting shot, citing Chinese generous tea habits. Though Planning Commission seems to be knocked out of its existence, Montake’s take on tea gels well with health experts and is going to remain robustly in public domain in times to come.

Dr. Ashok Jhingan, head of Delhi Diabetes Centre at Rajouri Garden and a well known diabetologist gives ‘thumbs up’ to tea without being mixed with sugar and milk. Talking to Meditoall editor Dhananjay kumar, Dr. Jhingan said, ‘lemon tea (or black tea) benefits a lot but only if not mixed with sugar and milk. A lemon tea contains a lot of anti-oxidants which are very good for health.   It does not contain empty calorie, so it is helpful in keeping slim. Obese people must take lemon tea or say black tea. If you mix one spoonful of sugar in a cup of tea, it equals 60 calorie, so having tea with sugar is not at all a healthy proposition.  Neither do I approve of tea with milk. If one takes a cup of black tea empty stomach daily, this habit can prove rejuvenating. Though no direct evidence has been found that drinking sugared tea can lead to diabetes but  people in high risk of diabetes group must not drink sugared tea at all.’

Dr. A.K. Seth, chairman, Homeopathy Department, Sir Ganga Ram hospital, sides with herbal tea as a healthy brew with gusto. He says, ‘When I was in China, I did not hear anybody even so much as pronouncing ‘milk’. I found every Chinese carrying thermos full of herbal tea sans milk. I saw them drinking herbal tea instead of water. If we want to equal China in its economy, tea habit must be emulated. Herbal tea has many benefits for health. I have bought a tea maker from China and can make 40 types of herbal tea’

Dr. Anup Dhir, well known cosmetic and plastic surgeon of Apollo, says, ‘We must follow China and Japan on this score. They do not drink milk. They use only herbal tea as beverage and generously.’

Only one health expert sounded a note of caution. Dr. Rekha Sharma, a well known nutritionist in India, said, ‘In summer season, we must be cautious about excess use of tea. Excess tea can lead to dehydration because tea triggers a lot of pissing.’

Researches worldwide have also found evidence that drinking tea (unmixed with sugar and milk) may help stave off cancer and lower cholesterol. They have been presented at different Tea Symposia.

‘The data are suggestive that people who drink tea have [a] somewhat lower [occurrence] of heart problems,” said Dr. John Weisburger, director emeritus of the American Health Foundation, an independent nonprofit research organization, and co-chairman of one of such tea symposia.

The same Weisburger had visited India over a decade ago to popularize tea as a health drink. This writer had extensively interviewed him about health benefits of tea. He went gaga over tea benefits and offered 20 years of study to buttress his point. He also had said, ‘tea without milk and sugar is a medicine to keep in pink of health. It especially perks up old people and makes them moving.’

Herbal Tea benefits can be summarized as below:

1. It keeps young.

2. It reduces weight.

3. It contains plenty of Flavonoids and anti-oxidants which prevent production of toxin (poison) in the

body.

4. Herbal enhances body’s capacity to fight diseases (immunity).